Former WWE Star Leilani Kai Loves The Women Of NXT

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Equipped with a WWE Legends contract, Leilani Kai is a dedicated attendee of “WWE NXT” shows, which feature a whole roster of up-and-coming wrestlers. It’s the women of “NXT” that have especially captured her attention, though.

While appearing on “Stories With Brisco and Bradshaw,” Kai opened up about her love for the “NXT” brand and its women’s division, which naturally developed as she’s caught up on the WWE product in recent years.

“I go to NXT when I can. I’ll ask them and they’ll bring me in,” said the former WWE Women’s Champion. “I like to watch the girls. I just watch them, I try to learn their names. I watch all the matches. I watch everything. NXT is my favorite because I love Shawn Michaels. If I don’t watch Raw, I’ll tape it. I’ll tape everything. I’ll watch it eventually. I was in the hospital two months [after having hip surgery], and they put a TV in there that I can put tapes in and a DVD player. I was able to watch wrestling in there. I wanted to since I had to stay. I don’t want TV. I want wrestling. They set me up where I could watch wrestling there, my doctor did.

“I had a good time in the hospital. That’s when I really caught up on everything. I thought, ‘My god, these girls are so good.’ I hadn’t seen one bad match. I might see one or two things I could say, ‘Well, maybe you should do it this way, it’d be better.'”

Amongst the “NXT” brand, Jacy Jayne currently reigns as the NXT Women’s Champion, while Blake Monroe holds the NXT Women’s North American Championship. Elsewhere, Fallon Henley, an ally of Jayne’s, is enjoying her reign as WWE Women’s Speed Champion so far.

Kai Calls IYO SKY The ‘Best’ Worker Of Today

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At the height of her WWE career in the 1980s, Kai enjoyed one reign as WWE Women’s Champion and two as a tag team champion alongside Judy Martin as The Glamour Girls. From today’s landscape, Kai wishes she could have wrestled a number of current and former titleholders.

“Chelsea Green, Nattie Neidhart, Rhea Ripley, and IYO [SKY],” Kai said when asked to identify which current WWE roster members she’d want to work with. “I think IYO is probably the best worker today for women’s [wrestlers]. I love her work. I think she’s doing real good. I think she’s the best wrestler at the moment. They’re all good.”

Natalya, a near 19-year veteran with WWE, most recently appeared in a vignette intensely training with new Women’s Intercontinental Champion Maxxine Dupri. Meanwhile, Chelsea Green is now a two-time Women’s United States Champion after defeating Giulia on “WWE SmackDown” last month. Rhea Ripley and IYO SKY, both former Women’s World Champions, expressed interest in pursuing women’s tag team gold coming off of their win in the 2025 Women’s WarGames match.

According to Kai, her main dream right now is to become a mentor at the WWE Performance Center, specifically with the aim of shaping WWE’s next generation of women. “That’s like my last part of my life, I want to be a coach and teach the knowledge that I learned through the years,” she said. “Even though they work a lot better now than I did when I was in my prime, their work is so good. I just love them all.”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit “Stories With Brisco and Bradshaw” with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.

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